Miami-Dade Man Buys iPad At Walmart, Gets Fake

A customer uses an Apple iPad on the first day of Apple iPad sales at an Apple store in San Francisco, Saturday, April 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

MIAMI (CBS4) – A Southwest Dade man says he purchased an iPad from Walmart and ended up with a fake.

When Emilio Pereda and his father-in-law left the Walmart at 8400 Coral Way Monday night, they had no reason to believe they’d gotten anything other than the iPad they purchased.

“There were no red flags,” said Pereda, adding, “It was completely wrapped with this wrapper from Walmart with your sku number that matches the receipt.”

Pereda’s father-in-law bought the $480 white iPad as a gift for his wife’s birthday, but when she opened it, they say they knew something was wrong. First of all, it wasn’t white. Also, they say, it wasn’t an actual iPad.

“It’s a piece of plastic, it’s not an iPad at all,” said Pereda.

The fake iPad has a charging port, but no charging strip. The buttons don’t work. The machine doesn’t turn on, and Pereda showed us what appeared to be a fishing sinker wrapped in white tape placed where the charger should have been.

Pereda said his family had heard about fake iPad scams like one CBS4 reported last week when two men were caught on camera allegedly offering deeply discounted “iPads” inside a convenience store. It turned out there were picture frames inside the boxes.

Pereda says he spent all night and all day trying to get some help from Walmart, but he says he didn’t hear back from the corporate office.

CBS4 contacted a media representative, Kayla Whaling, who said she was able to track down what happened. She said the iPad Pereda’s father-in-law bought had been returned, the iPad apparently replaced, and the box re-wrapped so well it appeared factory sealed.

Whaling said, “Walmart takes this very seriously and we apologize profusely to the customer.”

She also said Walmart would refund his money or make sure he got a new, real, iPad.